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Vegeta (ベジータ, Bejīta), or Prince Vegeta is the prince of the fallenSaiyan race and arch-rival to Goku. He is the husband of Bulma, the father of Trunks and Bulla, the estranged brother of Tarble, and the great-great grandfather of Vegeta Jr. Aside from Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo, he is easily one of the most prominent characters in the series, receiving more character development after being introduced than a number of other characters. He was once a young member of the Saiyan Army under the Planet Trade Organization, but after his race's demise, he worked alongside Nappa and Raditz, directly under Frieza.

He later joins the Z Fighters while battling along side them on Namek, and returns to Earth with them as well, where he remains for the rest of his life. As with almost all Saiyans, Vegeta's name is a pun off of vegetables, and in the case, most of the word itself, "vegetable."

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Vegeta is 5'5" tall (in comparison with Goku's 5'9" height). His hair firmly stands upwards, and has a prominent widow's peak. A main characteristic of Vegeta's is the fact that he is the only living Saiyan who has continued to don the traditional Saiyan armor (in reference to his heritage). He has also been seen wearing alternate forms of the armor, customizing the armor to better suit his persona; however, once he integrates into Earthly society, he abandons the Saiyan armor, at first gradually in Dragon Ball Z, then completely in Dragon Ball GT, in favor of clothing more characteristic of a human. This may be because his new levels of power eliminate any practical need for fabricated battle armor. It should be noted that Vegeta's uniform transition is symbolic of his adjustment to a human lifestyle. However, even after Vegeta loses the armor in Dragon Ball Z, he is always seen wearing iconic white gloves and white boots in battle. Vegeta once had a tail, but it was cut off by Yajirobe to remove Vegeta from his Great Ape state during the Vegeta Saga.

Vegeta's hair never grows in length. He states to Bulma, in an episode of the Perfect Cell Saga, that a pure-blood Saiyan's hair does not change from the day he is born, aside from Super Saiyan transformations.

If observed closely, Vegeta actually changes appearance physically over the course of Dragon Ball Z. He was originally intended to appear deceptively small, lean, and less threatening in comparison to his massive partner, Nappa. However, by the end of Dragon Ball Z, he seems to be taller and more muscular, the length of his hair having also been shortened, though he is still comparatively shorter than Goku, who also appears to have grown taller. Vegeta's facial features also look more distinct and sharply defined as the series progresses, making him look older (though this may be attributed to gradual aging).

Vegeta is haughty, arrogant, and bitter as a result of the destruction of his homeworld, Vegeta, and the abuse his race suffered at the hands of Frieza. His royalty seems to have bestowed upon him an inflated sense of superiority, holding himself above nearly everybody he encounters. He is immensely proud of his Saiyan heritage and believes his race to be the most powerful in the universe.

Since childhood, Vegeta has proven himself a ruthless killer, merciless like most Saiyans. During the Namek Saga, he began to exhibit changes; rather than killing Krillin or Gohan as he promised in the previous saga, he instead forges an alliance with them. Having been born into the upper tier of Saiyan society, Vegeta was fixated on achieving the legendary status of Super Saiyan and becoming the most powerful warrior in the universe. After his defeat at the hands of Frieza, Vegeta tearfully explains to Goku that Frieza forced him to be ruthless and that he never had the chance to be anything else (implying that he could have been kinder and more merciful were it not for Frieza). From then on, Vegeta softened up and occasionally showed compassion to his new family, Bulma, Bulla, and Trunks. In additon, during the Kid Buu Saga, he notably became enraged when he learned that Goku's deal with Old Kai involved allowing the latter to take advantage of Bulma, feeling it was very senseless of Goku, pointing out that he should have used Chi-Chi instead. It wasn't until the Babidi Saga that he gave in to his obsession of overtaking Goku in might, becoming Majin and "evil" once more. This was a desperate, failed ploy to restore his former wickedness, believing it to have been the source of his true power. Goku doesn't believe Vegeta is bluffing, and correctly so; Vegeta demonstrates his prevailing softness in hugging Trunks for the first time and telling him that he is proud to be his father, before performing a sacrificial Final Explosion against Majin Buu. Arguably his most defining trait is his rivalry with Goku and obsession to surpass him in power. In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, he goes so far as to break down in tears over his inability to surpass Goku. However, this obsession has led him to save Goku's life on several occasions, insisting that only he will defeat Goku.

After the defeat of Kid Buu, he has a change of heart, and his angry grudge against Goku became a friendly rivalry. Vegeta shows to be one of the more intelligent characters of the series. He is also one of the most serious, rarely exhibiting humor. When he does so, his humor is very dry and in some rare occasions black. He does, however, delight in mocking his enemies, as demonstrated when he offers to reconstruct Android 18 into a "toaster" or a "washing machine". He also shows his black sense of humor towards Goku when he was about to battle him in the World Martial Arts Tournament. He overheard Goku mentioning of him being full of food and Vegeta swore to punch him straight to the stomach. Normally, his ego and arrogance overshadow his positive qualities.

At the beginning of the series to near the end, Vegeta is shown to be exceptionally vain and egotistical. A tragic example of this is in his fight with Semi-Perfect Cell. Though he could have easily destroyed this weaker form of Cell, his arrogance bested him, and he purposely let Cell absorb Android 18 just to have a challenge in Cell through which to test his power. While fighting Majin Buu and Janemba, he vehemently opposed fusion with Goku due to his pride, but Goku managed to persuade him, later becoming more willing to fuse, going so far as to propose it himself in the battle against Omega Shenron. On several occasions, Vegeta conceitedly underestimates his opponents; in the cases of Perfect Cell and Kid Buu, Vegeta was fooled by their diminutive appearances, believing that they had only "shrunk".

At the end of the Buu Saga and in Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta is much more relaxed. He is often seen smiling and cracking jokes, such as when he forced Trunks to enter the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament, threatening to "cut his allowance" if he didn't enter the competition. Often being more caring and kind to his family, especially his daughter, Bulla, Vegeta admittedly has a kinder side, per his adjustment to Earthly life. The best example of caring for his family is the aforementioned example of hugging Trunks before he fights Majin Buu as Majin Vegeta. However, Vegeta can still be seen sitting on the sidelines, while everyone else is happy, enjoying themselves in the thick of things. Later on, Vegeta developed a strong age-crisis. For example when driving home with Bulla and seeing two teenagers in an other vehicle flirting with his dauhter, he ignores them. After a while other one of the boys calls Vegeta a "geezer" and he got angry and broke their car.

Vegeta is, iconically, extremely aggressive and angry. Throughout the first half of the Frieza Saga, whomever he defeated, he killed without mercy. Indeed, his only sign of mercy is when he let Namekian FrogCaptain Ginyu live, not wanting frog guts on his clean boots.

Vegeta, in some instances, has been seen afraid of opponents like Broly and Frieza, but visibly comes around. In Broly's case, this could be out of respect for the Legendary Super Saiyan.

Frieza keeps Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz as slaves to do his bidding, while Goku escapes the devastation by being sent to cleanse Earth of its inhabitants moments before it was destroyed. In the manga chapter of the Namek Saga, Vegeta is angry over working under for Frieza. Vegeta is especially reluctant to take orders from Frieza's right-hand man, Zarbon, whom Vegeta states is responsible for mocking him for many years and "working him like a slave." Despite being Frieza's underling, Vegeta constantly and proudly calls himself the "Prince of all Saiyans." Vegeta does not refer to himself as the "King of all Saiyans", possibly out of respect for his father, a refusal to admit the extinction of the Saiyans, or because he was never formally declared King.

"The boy doesn't mean any harm, Zarbon. He just hasn't learned how to control his passion. Give him the hardest assignment that you have, and Vegeta... do come back alive."
— Frieza when responding the young Vegeta's plea for another combat assignment.

As the Prince of a demolished Planet Vegeta, Vegeta is initially introduced as an unrepentant villain. Judging from his evil intentions before joining the Z Fighters, Vegeta has been consistently characterized as extremely arrogant, vengeful, and at times, cold. Many of Vegeta's early heroic acts are because of self-interest or revenge, although he later settles down and grows fond of Earth as his home, raising a family with Bulma (for who he falls in love with). His opinion of Goku always being one step ahead of him, even though Goku is a lower class Saiyan, runs the gamut from contempt to rivalry, and later to respect and friendship. Because of his arrogance, attitude and past wrong doing, Vegeta gains a lot of disdain from those around him. Naturally, Goku always takes an optimistic opinion about Vegeta.

Vegeta is more of a tactical fighter who often rushes in the brawl without hesitation, and usually his rage or arrogance causes him to underestimate his opponent. His royal blood and intense fighting style has both benefited and harmed him in many battles.

Vegeta and Bulma initially meet on planet Namek, but neither actually talked to the other; Bulma was too frightened, and Vegeta did not care, especially when his main concern was to find the Dragon Balls. However, their first interaction with each other was prior to his battle with Zarbon, to which Vegeta threatened to kill both Bulma and Krillin. The first time any affection is displayed between them is in "Immortality Denied", in which Vegeta, during a conversation with Gohan, refers to Bulma as a "Gorgeous Girl" in the Ocean dub.

Despite their rocky start, Bulma was more than willing to put up with Vegeta, even if he scared her. Upon his resurrection after being killed by Frieza, and then being teleported to Earth, Bulma invites Vegeta to live at Capsule Corp as he has nowhere to go, on the condition that he does not touch her. Vegeta reluctantly accepts her offer, but quickly leaves Earth in search of Goku after he discovers his unwillingness to return back to Earth from the Namek Dragon. During his absence on Earth, Bulma begins to slowly but surely show signs of affection towards the Saiyan Prince, after having a dream about him; she also shows a deep concern for him after being informed that his ship is about to run out of fuel soon. Her then boyfriend Yamcha not only begins to get jealous, but also shows resentment towards Vegeta, who has no idea about Bulma's feelings towards him.

At one time, Vegeta is seriously injured after his training capsule explodes while he tries to train under 400 times Earth's gravity. Bulma shows immense concern for Vegeta and tries to convince him to stop training to rest. Vegeta defiantly attempts to return to his training, but collapses, and Bulma then takes him to Capsule Corp to nurse him back to health. Later, Vegeta awakes to find Bulma asleep beside him, and wonders why she's there (having no idea of Bulma's feelings for him). When Bulma sees Vegeta return to training, she firmly tells him to stop because of his injuries, but Vegeta refuses to listen, and shouts at her to leave him alone. This leaves Bulma feeling very bitter about Vegeta and his stubbornness for a while afterwards.

After approximately a year since Future Trunks' warning about the Androids, Bulma breaks up with Yamcha and becomes romantically involved with Vegeta, ultimately leading to the conception of Trunks. However, even the birth of their son was not enough to bring the two together, as at that time Vegeta prioritized his rivalry with Goku before anything else, even his relationship with Bulma. Arguments were common between the two, with Bulma often calling Vegeta a "Jerk" and Vegeta showing little to no care or emotion for either his son or his future wife; this was demonstrated during an incident in which Bulma's plane is destroyed and their lives are at risk. When Future Trunks saves the two and questions Vegeta as to why he didn't try to save them, Vegeta responds that he has "more important things to worry about than that foolish woman and her blasted child." Bulma later humiliates Vegeta in front of everyone when she says that every time he sticks his "Ugly Mug" up to Trunks, it makes Trunks cry, much to Krillin and Gohan's amusement. ("Follow Dr. Gero")

Vegeta's and Bulma's indifference to each other during the Androids saga strongly implies that the circumstances surrounding their child's conception was no more than a brief fling - Future Trunks states to Goku that in his timeline, even though Bulma fell in love with Vegeta, they didn't stay together very long because their attraction was solely based on passion and loneliness ("Mystery Revealed"). Also, in the alternate future Vegeta was killed by the Androids soon after Trunks was born, so his relationship with Bulma did not have a chance to progress in that timeline.

However, the seven years of peace that came after the conclusion of the Cell Games would suggest that the two settled their differences and began to have a much better relationship than previously. Vegeta eventually became fond of his family in the Majin Buu Saga, but is ashamed of himself for doing so, wanting to be the coldhearted prince he once was. Nonetheless, Vegeta eventually realizes what is really important in his life, and sacrifices himself to save his family and Earth when fighting Majin Buu.

Another more comical show of his fondness towards Bulma can be seen in his angry reaction when he finds out that Goku promised Old Kai that he could kiss her (in the original version, Goku promised to show Old Kai some sexy pictures of Bulma), causing Vegeta to throw a fit, yelling to Goku, "Let him kiss your woman!" to which Goku's replies, "Your wife is prettier than mine!" (in the manga, Vegeta yells at Goku to show the Old Kai pictures of Chi-Chi, to which Goku responds, "But Chi-chi would kill me! *And she's flat-chested...*).

Vegeta is introduced to Dragon Ball Z at 29 years of age as a mercenary for Frieza. Vegeta comes to Earth when he receives Raditz's dying report of seven magic objects known as the Dragon Balls which will grant wishes. After hearing this report, and of Raditz's death, Vegeta and his companion, Nappa, decide to come to Earth and use the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality (it is implied in later sagas that he desired immortality so he could defeat Frieza for his years of suffering). Goku and the Z Fighters are warned of their arrival, and begin to train themselves. While Vegeta and Nappa travel to Earth, they stop by Arlia in an anime filler. They were only there for a short time, and while they were there, they made short work of the planet's strongest warriors, before destroying Arlia altogether. When they landed on Earth, Nappa and Vegeta wreaked havoc with little to stop them. They then found Piccolo, Krillin, and Gohan waiting for them, with Tien Shinhan, Chaiotzu, and Yamcha appearing just after. After losing Yamcha (after one Saibamanself destructed), the rest of the Z Fighters powered up and defeated the remaining Saibamen.

This causes Vegeta and Nappa to become impressed, but Nappa decides to heat things up by being the first to battle Earth's defenders. Vegeta sits back and watches the beatings. Nappa easily dominates all the Z Fighters, resulting in Chiaotzu going desperate by sacrificing himself by blowing up on Nappa's back, which was in vain, with his best friend Tien sacrificing himself to avenge his friend, which was also in vain. He does manage to get wounded every now and then, but for the most part, he seems to have complete control of the battle. Vegeta laughs when Nappa was insulted by Piccolo, but warns Nappa about Krillin's Destructo Disk. The Z Fighters desperately needed Goku's help, but Goku was still trying to reach the site of the battle. After training with King Kai, Goku was now much more powerful than when he fought Raditz. He flew down the long Snake Way, eventually made it off, and landed on Earth. He quickly makes it to the battlefield using his Flying Nimbus. After reading Goku's power level arriving, Vegeta ordered Nappa to kill Goku's friends, stating their assistance with Goku in the battle could be difficult for Nappa and Vegeta to defeat. Nappa was about to kill Gohan when Piccolo stood between his attack, thus sacrificing himself for Gohan's sake.

Goku arrived just before Nappa could land his second blow. Vegeta detects the high power level of Goku with his scouter, and after a quick introduction, Goku begins to fight Nappa. Goku and Nappa seemed to be evenly matched at first, but the benefits of Goku's training quickly became evident. When Vegeta calls Nappa back, the brutish Saiyan decides that he will kill Gohan and Krillin instead. Goku invokes the Kaio-ken technique, and stops Nappa before he can do anything, crippling him in the process. Because of Nappa's failure to defeat a low class Saiyan like Goku, Vegeta kills him. After giving everyone Senzu Beans, which fully recovers the user's strength, Goku tells Gohan and Krillin to leave Vegeta to him.

They eventually agree, and leave the battle field. At Gizard Wasteland, Vegeta offers Goku a chance to join him, but Goku quickly turns down the offer as he already had everything he wanted, and had already seen how Vegeta treats his "Partners". The fight begins, and it is made clear that Vegeta is much stronger than the much-improved Goku. Even using Kaio-ken at the second level (Kaio-ken times two) wasn't enough to stop Vegeta. Thus, Goku had to push the multiplier of the technique even higher, ignoring King Kai's warnings. With this power, Goku was able to fight Vegeta on equal ground to an extent, and the Prince of Saiyans lost his temper and decided he would destroy the planet with his Galick Gun technique, and go find the Dragon Balls on Namek instead. However, Goku countered the Galick Gun with a Kamehameha, and the two struggled for several minutes. When it seemed Vegeta was gaining the upper hand, Goku finally pushed himself to unforeseen levels and used Kaio-ken x4 to boost his power even higher, in turn surprising and overwhelming Vegeta and sending him skywards. Vegeta managed to survive the beam carrying him ever higher. Thus, Vegeta decided to transform himself into a Great Ape, which would multiply his power ten fold, throwing a Power Ball into the air, as Piccolo destroyed the moon a couple of month's later. When Vegeta transformed, Goku was completely outclassed and had to resort to using the Spirit Bomb technique. However, before he could use it, Vegeta disrupted it with a Chou Makouhou. Then Vegeta grabbed Goku and began to slowly crush him, making him suffer instead of killing him quickly. Krillin and Gohan had seen the Power Ball that Vegeta had used to transform, and had returned to the battle.

Upon finding Goku defeated, they attempted to distract Vegeta and cut off his tail, in order to force him back to his normal form. This attempt failed, but Yajirobe succeeded where the strong Z Fighters had not. When he was back to normal, Vegeta became enraged and fought Gohan briefly. Despite Gohan's efforts, Vegeta is far stronger and faster than he is. Goku then decides to give Krillin the last of the Spirit Bomb he managed to retain. Krillin accepted this new energy, and was instructed by Goku how to unleash it on Vegeta.

Panicing at first, Krillin receives further instructions from North Kai, and he hurls the Spirit Bomb at Vegeta. When Yajirobe shouted at Krillin to throw it, making Vegeta notcie him, Krillin throws it, and at first it missed, but Gohan was pure enough that he could bounce the energy back, striking Vegeta. The Spirit Bomb hit him and severely damaged him, reducing his energy and strength greatly; but he survived. Vegeta then draws upon his Ki reserves and unleashes a mighty blast that strikes down everyone nearby. Vegeta notices that Gohan has regrown his tail from the effects of the Power Ball, and realizes that he may soon transform. The villain is unable to prevent this thanks to Yajirobe distracting him with an attack from behind. Realizing his mistake, Vegeta quickly returns to Gohan, but was too late. Gohan assumes the Great Ape form, and Vegeta in his severely weakened state could not defeat him. However, Vegeta could out-think the primitive ape form of Gohan, and manages to cut off Gohan's tail, returning the young half-breed to normal size and power. Before Gohan could fully return to normal, however, he fell on Vegeta as a Great Ape, and Vegeta was unable to dodge in his wounded state.

Vegeta finally retreats, and crawls to his space pod, realizing he cannot keep fighting in his current condition. A weakened Krillin gains consciousness, and just when he is about to stab Vegeta with Yajirobe's katana sword, Goku telepathically pleaded for Krillin to let Vegeta go, wanting to have a rematch one day and also wanting Vegeta to have the same chance to change his ways that Piccolo got; after much persuasion, Krillin agrees. Vegeta then departs Earth, vowing to make Goku regret sparing him, and his space pod takes him to one of the planets controlled by Frieza. With his extreme arrogance he cannot understand how a "Low-Class" Saiyan like Goku could have done so well against him, unwilling to factor the contributions of the other three warriors into the battle.

"You're not going...anywhere. You will pay for your part in this, just as Frieza soon will. But I want you to know... I do this not for my planet, not for my race, but because you thought you could make the prince of Saiyans a slave to your whims!"
— Vegeta to Dodoria

After rehabilitation, Cui tells Vegeta that Frieza is already on Namek alongside his henchmen Zarbon and Dodoria and they are searching for the Dragon Balls. Without wasting any time, Vegeta makes his way to Planet Namek, now planning to make a wish with the Dragon Balls. During his stay on the planet he meets up with Krillin and Gohan, who were also in search of the Namekian Dragon Balls. He tries to track them down and torment them, but eventually leaves them alone since he has much bigger problems such as Frieza, his previous master and the warlord who was also in search of the mystical Balls. While on Namek, Vegeta is followed and ambushed by Cui. Frieza had given Cui the order to terminate Vegeta, something he had been hoping to hear for many years. However, Vegeta's encounter with the earthlings allowed his strength to grow exponentially higher (as a Saiyan's strength increases every time a battle leaves him at near death). Cui attacks Vegeta, but Vegeta easily evades Cui's attacks, telling Cui that when his power increased, so did his speed. He then easily kills Cui.

Vegeta later takes the opportunity to dispatch Dodoria as well. Once Dodoria is alone, Vegeta learns from him the true circumstances of Planet Vegeta's destruction by Frieza himself. Vegeta is not in a forgiving mood so he ruthlessly executes Dodoria as well. After killing Dodoria, Vegeta goes and causes mass havoc in a Namekian village in order to obtain one of the Dragon Balls. Frieza and his henchmen had already collected five Dragon Balls so he hopes to hang on to one and steal the rest from Frieza when the opportunity would show itself. Once Vegeta obtains one Dragon Ball and hides it, he takes flight and he soon comes face to face with Frieza's most powerful henchman, Zarbon.

Vegeta and Zarbon enter a fierce battle and Vegeta seems to have the upper hand until Zarbon undergoes a powerful reptilian transformation. Zarbon and Vegeta resume the brutal battle, with Zarbon making sport of the Saiyan prince, pounding him around and completely dominating him. Before finishing the battle, Zarbon reveals to Vegeta that Frieza can also transform, much to his horror. Zarbon easily defeats Vegeta with multiple kicks and combos and performs a powerful pile-driver, sending Vegeta headfirst into the ground and completely battered in a crater that soon filled up with sea water, which Zarbon detested going into (as it would make him wet), and simply left him for the dead. Zarbon returned to Frieza to relay the message of his victory, but Frieza wasn't satisfied. Frieza is well aware that Vegeta may know the location of one of the Dragon Balls so he sends Zarbon to go and retrieve Vegeta's battered body and bring him back in order to heal him for interrogation.

Vegeta was later dragged back to Frieza's spaceship by Zarbon, where he healed him in a rejuvenation chamber. Vegeta waited for the right opportunity to escape. He made a clever distraction (he blasted the wall to the outside off leading Frieza and Zarbon to believe he ran off, although he was actually hiding in the ship) and ran away with Frieza's collected Dragon Balls, dropping them inside the pools of water nearby and then recovering them. Frieza is extremely angered and he sends Zarbon after Vegeta once more, giving him a limit of one hour. Zarbon is able to locate Vegeta, along with Krillin and Bulma. A fierce clash ensues and the now healed and fully rejuvenated Vegeta reveals that he has become far stronger from his near death experience. Zarbon cannot believe it, but he is unable to defeat Vegeta even in his transformed state. Vegeta ruthlessly slams his fist clean through Zarbon's stomach and blasts him, sending him to a watery grave in the Namekian sea.

Krillin, realizing that he can't keep the Dragon Ball from Vegeta, begrudgingly hands it over without a fight, and now in a fine mood, Vegeta spares his life and Bulma's for the time being. Vegeta now had six of the seven Dragon Balls in his grasp, and needed only one more to make his dream of immortality a reality. While en route to where he had hidden his Dragon Ball, he meets up with Gohan, and injures the boy for fun before leaving him. After getting back to where he had hidden his Dragon Ball, Vegeta realizes that Gohan had stolen it and berates himself for letting a kid fool him. He heads back to where Bulma had made her hideout and destroys it, but to his frustration finds that everyone had already left. He swears to get them for this humiliation.

When Vegeta escaped Frieza's ship with five of the seven Namekian Dragon Balls, Frieza sent word to summon the Ginyu Force, the most powerful warriors in his army. The Ginyu Force were a team of five, consisting of: Recoome, Burter, Jeice, Guldo, and their leader, Captain Ginyu. They were strange, often making amusingly choreographed dances and poses, but were also extremely powerful, said to be the mightiest in the universe. Once they arrived on planet Namek, Frieza ordered them to retrieve the Namekian Dragon Balls, bring Vegeta back to him alive, and kill any others that got in their way. Meanwhile, Vegeta sensed the arrival of the Ginyu Force and forges an alliance with Gohan and Krillin, all three deciding that their only chance of survival is to wish for Vegeta's immortality with the Dragon Balls (Vegeta had six and Gohan and Krillin had the last one). Out in space, Goku continues on his journey to planet Namek in a spaceship that Dr. Brief made for him. While en route, Goku uses a machine installed on the ship to increase the gravity within the ship to help him train under large amounts of gravity, starting at 20 times Earth's normal gravity and eventually working his way up to 100 times Earth's normal gravity.

Meanwhile, back on planet Namek, Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin race back to where Vegeta was keeping his six Dragon Balls and are about to wish for Vegeta's immortality but Krillin hesitates out of fear of an immortal Vegeta, despite Vegeta's (false) promises that he wouldn't harm them. Suddenly, the Ginyu Force arrives on the island where Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin are. Terrified, Vegeta attempts to "hide" one of the Dragon Balls by throwing it far off into the sea but Burter uses his incredible speed to catch it in mid-air. Vegeta then desperately orders Krillin to destroy the Dragon Ball he is holding so that Frieza cannot make his wish for immortality. But before Krillin can destroy it, Guldo freezes time and snatches the Dragon Ball out of his hands. Outmanuevered, Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin look on in terror as Captain Ginyu takes the seven Dragon Balls and flies off to report to Frieza, leaving the four remaining members of the Ginyu Force to deal with Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin.

After playing Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine who would fight who, Guldo prepares to engage Gohan and Krillin. As the three begin fighting, it appears as if Gohan and Krillin have Guldo on the ropes, as Guldo is barely able to freeze time long enough to escape the two's energy blasts. Just when it seems that Gohan and Krillin will win, Guldo reveals his trump card: the ability to mentally petrify his enemies. He uses this desperate move to trap Gohan and Krillin in place as he uses telekinesis to make a skewer out of a nearby tree. He launches the skewer at the frozen Gohan and Krillin. Just when it seems like Gohan and Krillin are about to become shish kebab, Vegeta fires an energy beam at Guldo and cuts his head off, stopping the skewer just seconds away from impaling Gohan and Krillin.

With Guldo gone, Recoome steps up to challenge Vegeta. With his newfound power after recovering from his battle on Earth and his battle with Zarbon, Vegeta launches into a powerful assault on Recoome, landing several powerful hits and firing an intense energy blast, the Final Crash, at Recoome that appears to take care of him. However, as the dust settles and Recoome emerges unharmed from the debris, it looks like the trio is in trouble. When Recoome effortlessly takes down Vegeta, Krillin goes in to help, believing that the only chance they have of surviving is if Vegeta survives. However, Krillin's efforts are in vain as Recoome easily knocks him aside with a single blow. Gohan then goes in to help Krillin, and despite the young warrior's newly unlocked hidden powers (courtesy of Grand Elder Guru), Recoome manages to easily fend him off. Just when all hope seems lost, Goku lands on planet Namek. After a quick scan of the power levels on the planet, Goku concludes that the strongest power level is Frieza's, the second strongest is Captain Ginyu's, and his friends' power levels are quickly fading. Goku quickly rushes onto the scene where the three remaining members of the Ginyu Force (excluding Captain Ginyu) and his friends are. Goku heals his friends and Vegeta (against Krillin's protests) with Senzu Beans that he brought from Earth, although out of his desire to allow his rival a chance to settle the score, and partially to repay Vegeta for helping Gohan and Krillin when they were in danger of Guldo's attack.

The remaining members of the Ginyu Force, agitated by the interruption of Goku's arrival, proceed to engage him in battle, but they prove to be no match for Goku, and he soundly defeats them all, knocking out Recoome (with a single hit) and Burter, and letting Jeice flee. Angered that Goku refuses to finish off Recoome and Burter, he kills them himself by cracking the unconscious Burter's neck and blowing up the fallen Recoome from behind, using the Super Big Bang Cannon. Goku becomes upset that Vegeta would do such a thing and Vegeta explains that by letting them live, he and Gohan's lives would be at risk. After the fighting is over, the others state that all hope is lost as Captain Ginyu has probably already brought Frieza the Dragon Balls and Frieza may already be immortal. Krillin remarks that on Earth, the sky turns black when the Dragon is summoned, and since that hasn't happened, Frieza probably hasn't made his wish. That's when Goku fills the others in on a little secret, the Namekian Dragon Balls can only be activated when one says the correct password. Meanwhile, Jeice arrives at Frieza's ship and requests Captain Ginyu's help to deal with Goku. Annoyed at having to get his hands dirty, Captain Ginyu agrees and flies off with Jeice to fight Goku.

Goku tells Gohan and Krillin to fetch the Dragon Radar and locate the Dragon Balls. Captain Ginyu and Jeice arrive on the scene just as Gohan and Krillin leave. Goku asks for Vegeta's help in fighting the remaining Ginyu Force members and Vegeta agrees, but quickly flies off laughing, leaving Goku to deal with Jeice and Captain Ginyu himself. After some short fighting, Captain Ginyu realizes that Goku is holding back, and asks that he reveal his full power. Using his scouter, Captain Ginyu is shocked to find Goku reaching a power level of 180,000 with just the normal Kaio-ken. Coming to the conclusion that he can't hope to defeat Goku, he instead to use the Body Change (his special ability) to swap bodies with Goku, but not before fatally injuring his own body (causing Goku to suffer from pain when he enters Captain Ginyu's body). Satisfied with his cunning trick, Captain Ginyu flies off in Goku's body with Jeice trailing.

The new Captain Ginyu in Goku's body, now wields a great power from Goku. He starts to fool Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan. Vegeta, however, realized that Goku was not himself. Krillin and Gohan were easily fooled, but immediately came to their senses that Goku isn't himself when they saw Goku wearing a scouter, and hanging around Jeice. Krillin and Gohan then joined forces to stop Captain Ginyu in Goku's body. Meanwhile, Vegeta handles Jeice on his own. He swiftly kills the meddling Ginyu Force member, and heads off to fight Captain Ginyu. Goku, now in Captain Ginyu's body, makes an alliance with Vegeta to stop Ginyu in Goku's body. As Ginyu had figured out how to use Goku's body, he took the upper hand against Krillin and Gohan. Vegeta, however, completely overpowered him and was about to finish him off. Captain Ginyu fired another change beam, which was fortunately intercepted by Goku, and both returned to their original bodies. Captain Ginyu, now in his injured old body, was no match for Goku or Vegeta, and was soon being pummeled by him. Knowing he is finished, Captain Ginyu planned another Body Switch using his change beam, with Vegeta. The beam was about to connect with Vegeta, but Goku threw a frog in between them. The body switch was now with a frog. Captain Ginyu was now a frog, and the frog was Captain Ginyu. Vegeta merely scoffs at the powerlessness of the once-proud Captain Ginyu, and decides to not kill Goku and take his revenge on him, because he needs his help to stop Frieza. Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan take Goku into a recovery chamber, where he would begin healing.

Eventually, after Cui, Dodoria, Appule, Zarbon, Guldo, Recoome, Burter, Jeice and Captain Ginyu have all failed in their attempts to kill Vegeta, Frieza decided to take matters into his own hands. After realizing his powerful Ginyu Force members were all taken down in battle, Frieza was furious. He fled towards his ship to find any traces of his collected Dragon Balls. Meanwhile, Vegeta stands by a rejuvenating Goku. Vegeta spares Goku only in time on his assistance against Frieza. While Vegeta falls asleep, tired after all the battles, Krillin and Gohan sneakily gather the seven Namekian Dragon Balls, and began telling their wishes. Their first wish was for Piccolo's return. Then they wished to transport him back on Namek. Their third and final wish was interrupted by an enraged Vegeta, waking up and spotting the Namekian Dragon. Frieza also realized this strange feature, and was gaining on them at high speeds. Vegeta pries Dende, the wisher of Porunga the Namekian Dragon, to wish him immortality to stop Frieza. The wish almost succeeded, but Guru, the eldest of all Nameks, died just before they could finish. Vegeta goes into a rage, but stops when Krillin spots Frieza, looking down on them from above. He provided a sneak peek at his amazing power, but Vegeta was just able to match him.

Vegeta told Frieza to transform and explained that Zarbon had already mentioned that Frieza also had the ability to transform, seeing it was no longer a secret. As a result, Frieza decided to transform with some provocation from Vegeta. In this new form, Frieza was too powerful for Vegeta, and especially Krillin, Dende, or Gohan. Goku was healing, and even he could sense Frieza's awesome power. Frieza brought Krillin to near death by stabbing him with his huge horns. This enraged Gohan, who, after awakening his dormant hidden power, makes a surprise attack on Frieza and temporarily hurts him a bit, but to no avail. After doing away with Gohan, Frieza asked Vegeta if he would help the defenceless child, but Vegeta backed away from helping in fear. Frieza was then confronted by Piccolo, who Vegeta thought was a worthless waste of a wish and wondered what could the Namek who lost to Nappa possibly do against Frieza. However, Vegeta did not know Piccolo had fused with Nail to become even more powerful. It seemed Piccolo could handle Frieza in his second Transformation. As a result, Frieza decided to transform into his most hideous form. After transforming yet again, Frieza was once again too powerful for anyone, including the fused Piccolo. He was being completely dominated by Frieza's immense strength. Gohan, once again spurred on, races to help Piccolo and unleashes a massive Bakuretsu Ranma on Frieza, hindering him for quite a bit of time.

When Frieza eventually manages to deflect this, Vegeta realized Frieza may be too strong for even him or Goku, and concocts a plan to reach the rank of Super Saiyan by having Krillin hurt him badly, leaving only an inch of his life, then having Dende heal him (because Saiyans grow increasingly stronger when they recover from near-death experiences). He fails as Frieza decided yet again to transform due to Gohan, when angered, being powerful enough to almost deter his third form.

Even Goku had to open his eyes in awe of Frieza's frightening power. Frieza first killed Dende, and then began brutalizing Vegeta. Vegeta was on the brink of death from Frieza's vicious assault, until the renewed Goku showed up and briefly rescued him. However, Frieza fired a Death Beam right through Vegeta's heart, ending the Saiyan Prince's tortured life. Vegeta dies slowly and painfully, pouring his heart and his past out to Goku as the only other pure-blooded Saiyan left alive. Goku vows to take revenge for Vegeta on behalf of their race, burying the fallen prince and then beginning to fight Frieza, with the hope of avenging the Saiyan race, Vegeta's wish to Goku.

Vegeta is later resurrected when a wish is made with the Dragon Balls to bring back everyone killed on Planet Namek by Frieza. He is revived and brought to Earth, but not before he sees that Goku has transformed into the legendary Super Saiyan warrior that Saiyan legend says will appear only every one millennia (three millennia in the English dub, this only occurs in the anime, and is ignored by the series itself). He also attempts to launch an attack on a bewildered Frieza after the latter asked if he was a ghost, but was transported to Earth by Porunga before he could finish the attack. Meanwhile, Goku defeats Frieza but is apparently himself killed in Namek's explosion. Vegeta hides his remorse for Goku by boasting happily about it until Gohan challenges him to a fight. Vegeta subdues Gohan but is stopped from hurting him seriously by Piccolo, and flies off (although this only occurs in the anime, as Vegeta inexplicably reappears with the others in the next episode). Also in more anime filler, after Goku refuses to be wished back to Earth so as to return later, Vegeta refuses to wait for him and steals Bulma's spaceship to search for him by himself.

Vegeta travels through space with the Capsule Corporation spaceship in an attempt to locate Goku and find out how to become a Super Saiyan. He eventually attacks and kills a number of Frieza's remaining minions to prove to them that their leader is dead. As some warriors are still refusing to believe him, Vegeta ruthlessly executes any remaining combatants. However, his search for Goku is in vain. (This occurs only in the anime.)

Two years after the events on planet Namek, Vegeta returned to Earth, not having found Goku. Vegeta had been training during that time, and was quite a bit more powerful than before. However, he still did not achieve the Super Saiyan transformation. He also became somewhat reformed; he no longer cared about immortality or conquering the universe, but became obsessed with becoming stronger. After calling off his search, he lives in Capsule Corp. Frieza and his father, King Cold, are sensed on their way to Earth, Frieza having survived the explosion of Namek. However, a young man appeared, named Trunks, transformed into a Super Saiyan, and destroyed both Frieza and his father. After the fight, Trunks tells them that Goku will soon arrive. The Z Fighters (Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Gohan, and Krillin), along with Bulma and Puar, waited for 2 hours for Goku's arrival. Vegeta was curious as to who the stranger really is. He was jealous of the young warrior's ability to become a Super Saiyan, seeing Trunks as an obstacle to his goal of becoming the strongest fighter in the universe, by obtaining the Super Saiyan form. Eventually, Goku shows up - he explained that he ended up on Planet Yardrat and learned Instant Transmission from the natives. Trunks speaks with Goku privately (though Piccolo was able to hear them with his sharp hearing), after testing the Saiyan's power briefly. He tells Goku that his father is Vegeta, his mother is Bulma, and he is a Super Saiyan from 20 years in the future. Goku doesn't talk about this with the others but he does speak about Future Trunks being a Saiyan, which makes Vegeta angry and jealous. He says it is impossible, because there is no way for the boy to have Saiyan blood (he and Goku being the last of the Saiyans, with Gohan being a half-breed).

Future Trunks then gives Goku an antidote for a heart virus that Future Trunks says Goku will develop in a few years time. He also says that in three years Androids, created by former Red Ribbon Army scientist Dr. Gero, will appear, kill all of the Z Fighters, and begin a reign of terror over the Earth. During the next three years, the Z Fighters began to train very hard. Vegeta was no exception, as he trained the hardest to become a Super Saiyan. After witnessing Goku, a lower class, and another stranger he doesn't even recognize as from his race, being Super Saiyans, Vegeta trained in just pure determination.

Three years pass, and Vegeta and Bulma become parents to a baby called Trunks. Vegeta is at age 35 at the time. It isn't long after that the prophesied Android 19 and Android 20 appear. Goku fights Android 19, and puts up a great fight as a Super Saiyan, but the heart disease begins to attack and effect him greatly during the battle. The Z Fighters are about to intervene and save Goku, as Android 19 begins to strangle him, but Vegeta appears out of nowhere and kicks the Android in the face, saving Goku. Vegeta tells them to give Goku his medicine. Goku is then flown home by Yamcha, where the heart medicine is given to him. Vegeta then greatly surprises everyone by transforming into a Super Saiyan. Vegeta then begins to effortlessly demolish Android 19 with his increased power, and finishes the android off with his new technique - the Big Bang Attack - after ripping the Android's hands off.

Vegeta seems to be far more powerful than both of the Androids, and Android 20 decides to flee. During this time, Future Trunks arrives and informs everyone that Android 19 and 20 are not the androids of his future world. After Vegeta takes a Senzu bean to recover his power, Piccolo calls Future Trunks by name, causing Vegeta to realize who he really is; Vegeta is initially shocked by this realization, although he is also apparently resolved as this explains how the boy could become a Super Saiyan. After pursuing Android 20 (who is really Dr. Gero, with his brain in a cyborg body) Vegeta and the rest of the team discover Android 16, Android 17, and Android 18, who were activated by Android 20 in a desperate attempt to save himself. These Androids were far more powerful than either Dr. Gero, or Android 19. However, Android 17 crushes Dr. Gero's head, not being loyal to his creator at all.

The three new Androids fly away from Dr. Gero's secret laboratory, but the Z Fighters follow them, and Vegeta challenges them to battle. He fights with Android 18, and seems to be doing fairly well at first and surprises the Androids with his newfound power, but is eventually defeated due to the fact that Android 18 has infinite power while Vegeta has to use all his power to fight her. When Piccolo, Tien, and Future Trunks step in, they too are beaten into submission. The Androids then head off to look for Goku in order to destroy him - the mission they were made for. Krillin, the only Z Fighter not to have gotten involved in the skirmish with the Androids, gives everyone Senzu Beans, which revived all of his fallen comrades. Vegeta then spends three days standing on a cliff, thinking about his defeat. He decides that there must be a level beyond Super Saiyan, and resolves to reach it. Vegeta enters the Hyperbolic Time Chamber at Kami's Lookout and trains for nearly a year (a day outside) with Future Trunks. Meanwhile, Dr. Gero's ultimate Android creation is discovered.

After Imperfect Cell managed to absorb Android 17, and become even stronger than Piccolo, Vegeta and Future Trunks emerge from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and confront Semi-Perfect Cell. After powering up into an Ascended Super Saiyan, Vegeta completely dominated Semi-Perfect Cell, and even made the evil android beg him to allow him to absorb Android 18, in order to become complete, and make the fight more interesting. This strategy was obvious to everyone, including Vegeta, and he initially refuses. However, eager to show off his new power, Vegeta eventually permits Semi-Perfect Cell to do as he wishes, even going so far as to fight Future Trunks and stop him from preventing Semi-Perfect Cell's attainment of perfection. After becoming Perfect Cell, the android fights Vegeta a second time. This time Vegeta is the weaker one, with Vegeta angry that Cell was not taking their battle seriously. Vegeta had to resort to using his Final Flash technique, which, to his credit, was too strong for Cell to block. He dares Perfect Cell to take the attack head on, and Perfect Cell, confident that it will not harm him, stays put as the beam hits him. Though it failed to destroy Perfect Cell, the attack's power was obvious, as Perfect Cell was missing a third of his body from the blast. When Vegeta thought he had won, Perfect Cell regenerated though, thanks to Piccolo's Cells, and then badly beat the weakened Vegeta. Perfect Cell then fought Future Trunks, who managed to put up a fight against the perfect Android, but he was defeated as well, when he gave up after realising the Ultra Super Saiyan form was too slow to fight Cell. Instead of killing the defeated Z Warriors, Perfect Cell proposes a tournament so that he can have some fun before destroying Earth. The tournament would commence in ten days.

"It is painfully clear at this point that no one among this group is stronger than Kakarot is. Not even...myself. So, he deserves to have the fight of a true warrior, and that means...to the death."
— Vegeta when commenting on Goku's fight with Cell

During this time, Goku and Gohan got their turn in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and began training, mostly for the purpose of Gohan becoming a Super Saiyan, his hidden power would be very useful then if he could at least keep up with Perfect Cell normally. All the Z Warriors then gathered at the tournament after nine days had passed. On the day of the tournament, the martial arts champion Hercule (known as Mr. Satan in the Japanese and uncut English versions) and his trainees attack Perfect Cell first, but they are easily defeated. Then the tournament truly begins, as Goku is the first of our heroes to fight Perfect Cell, even though he already knows that he will probably not be able to beat him. He matches Perfect Cell blow for blow and puts up a good fight; but as Goku expected, Perfect Cell is quite a bit stronger then him.

Goku eventually quits the fight after a huge Kamehameha that decreases his own power, and remembers the training inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber that he and Gohan went through. Goku is confident in his son's abilities and sends the 11-year-old Gohan out to fight Perfect Cell, assuring Perfect Cell that if Gohan couldn't beat him, no one would be able to. Gohan reluctantly fights Perfect Cell, but Gohan does not show the same love for fighting and confidence that Goku does, and it is that lack of interest in fighting and lack of confidence that gets him into trouble. Gohan doesn't use his full strength and Perfect Cell makes seven miniature versions of himself to fight the Z Fighters and eventually kill them. This charade continues until Android 16 (who is now allied with Goku) is killed - when this happens, Gohan's dormant power erupts in his rage and he transforms to a level that surpasses the known limits of any Super Saiyan. This new level of power is "Super Saiyan 2". It was just as Goku had predicted; Gohan with his awakened power, dominates the perfect android until a well placed punch to the stomach makes Perfect Cell regurgitate Android 18, forcing him to become semi-perfect again. No longer at his ultimate power, he begins to self destruct as a last resort. Goku teleports him to King Kai's planet, and is killed in the explosion. Semi-Perfect Cell survives, and comes back in his perfect form, but due to his Saiyan genetics, Super Perfect Cell comes back stronger after his near fatal injury. He returns to Earth, where he kills Future Trunks with a Full Power Death Beam.

Vegeta attacks Super Perfect Cell in a fit of rage when he sees his son killed, blasting the android straight on with an incredible volley of Ki Blasts. When it is all over, Super Perfect Cell emerges, completely unharmed, and knocks Vegeta aside. Cell then attempts to finish Vegeta off once and for all, but Gohan throws himself in the way of the blast, losing the use of his left arm (as well as more than half his power) in the process.

What follows is a turning point in the life of the Warrior Prince: seeing that his pride and rage has taken the victory from a brother Saiyan and warrior, Vegeta, for the first time in his life, apologized for his arrogance (Though Gohan thought that this might also have partially to do with the fact that the Earth was dying).

After an intense Kamehameha duel, Super Perfect Cell is finally defeated by Gohan's Kamehameha after Vegeta distracts him with a Ki Blast to the back, allowing Gohan's beam to finally overcome Super Perfect Cell's. Realizing that both Goku and Gohan were superior to him not only in power but in character and honor as well, Vegeta understands that he was beaten by Goku in more ways than one. His last words on the battlefield are "Kakarot, you died without fear. What does that make of me?" With the battle over, Vegeta began to finally accept his rapidly changing morality (as he, like Piccolo before him, had now grown to care for others), and began to settle down on Earth, becoming quite fond of it, and begins to truly care about his family.

Seven years pass since the Cell Games, and he is reinstated. He is at age 44. Now that Goku is gone, Vegeta's goal is no longer to become stronger than him, but it is now to make Trunks stronger than Goku's second son, Goten (or even Gohan, as he believes Gohan's Super Saiyan 2 was Goku's doing). He is first seen emerging from a gravity room after training with Trunks (his son), when Gohan comes to have fun with Trunks. While Gohan greets Vegeta kindly, Vegeta gives Gohan a cold look and tells him that he should continue training, even in peacetime. Upon hearing from Gohan that Goku will be coming to Earth for 24 hours to fight in the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, Vegeta boasts and claims that he will beat Gohan, Goten and Goku in the Tournament.

Vegeta is eager to fight Goku in this tournament to prove that he was the stronger one and to his delight, his first match is with Goku. Goku meets his son Goten and the tournament starts. Soon, Supreme Kai and Kibito appear and tell Goku that a wizard named Babidi is about to unleash an evil monster named Majin Buu on the world, and they must help stop him. Majin Buu needs energy from fighters so he can be freed from the shell he is trapped inside. Goku prepares to go with Supreme Kai but Vegeta is enraged - he was scheduled to fight Goku, and thinks Goku is trying to wiggle out of it. He joins Goku, Gohan, Videl, Piccolo and Krillin. They follow Supreme Kai to Babidi's Spaceship. However, the gang is ambushed, and Piccolo and Krillin are turned to stone statues by Dabura, one of Babidi's henchmen. Videl returns to the tournament, advised that the fight against Babidi might be too dangerous for her as she is inexperienced. Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and Supreme Kai enter Babidi's ship.

They fight their way down the levels, encountering a different Majin (Babidi's fighters) at each level - Vegeta was the first character to fight. He fought Pui Pui and easily dominated him, killing him instantly with a point-blank energy blast even after being teleported to his home planet Zoon by Babidi. Goku was up next, and he fought a pet creature of Babidi known as Yakon. At first, Yakon was troublesome, seeing as though he has the ability to see in dark, Goku didn't. However, Goku manages to defeat the creatures from him absorbing too much of his energy and blowing up, briefly giving Vegeta a glimpse of Goku's Super Saiyan 2 powers.

At this point, Vegeta realizes that even though he has trained as hard as he could for seven years, there was still a gap between Goku's power and his. Then Gohan begins to fight Dabura. During the fight between Gohan and Dabura, Vegeta and Goku had an argument about how to best handle the Babidi/Majin Buu threat. Dabura retreats, saying that there is a different fighter who is more powerful. They are confused - Supreme Kai says that Dabura is the most powerful Majin. Suddenly, Vegeta begins acting strangely, screaming that something invisible is attacking him. Supreme Kai informs the others that Babidi is trying to take over Vegeta's mind, and they encourage him to fight back: but it is too late. Vegeta is overwhelmed by Babidi, and is transformed into a much more powerful stage, Majin Vegeta. Babidi orders his new apprentice, Majin Vegeta, to destroy Goku, Gohan and Supreme Kai, but he refuses. He says he will only fight Goku.

Babidi is surprised by Majin Vegeta's ability to fight his mind control, but obediently transports the three fighters and Supreme Kai back to the World Martial Arts Tournament. Majin Vegeta eager to fight Goku, blows up part of the spectator stands to convince Goku to fight him. Goku eventually agrees. Supreme Kai tries to get in the way of the two Saiyans' feud, but backs down when Goku threatens to blast him if he gets in the way (to the surprise of Vegeta). Goku and Majin Vegeta then are teleported to a secluded mountain area, and fight. Majin Vegeta revealed to Goku that he deliberately let Babidi to control him in order to allow his evilness to resurface, which would allow Vegeta to fight Goku as he once was, ruthless and unencumbered by emotion. After that, Majin Vegeta and Goku both power-up to Super Saiyan 2, with power levels far greater then Gohan's when he fought Super Perfect Cell; and then Goku and Majin Vegeta fight furiously, with each fighter having their glorious moment after one another.

Vegeta was able to fight evenly with Goku, (which caught the latter off-guard on a few occasions). Throughout the battle, Babidi is drawing off the energy spent by Goku and Majin Vegeta and using it to try and revive the sleeping Majin Buu. Eventually, Goku calls a halt to the fight, as he senses Majin Buu's extraordinary power, and knows he has been released. When Goku turns his back to get out the last Senzu Bean and split it between him and Majin Vegeta to stop Majin Buu, Majin Vegeta attacks Goku and knocks him out.

Majin Vegeta takes the Senzu Bean and goes to fight Majin Buu by himself: as he felt that he owed Goku for the destruction wrecked during the Cell Games, as it was his fault Semi-Perfect Cell absorbed Android 18. Majin Vegeta wants to repay his debt by saving the Earth, as he also believed that Gohan was dead at the time. Majin Vegeta fights against Majin Buu, but cannot win, even his most powerful attacks only slightly hurt Buu. He attempts many blows on Majin Buu, but the pink monster seems invincible.

After Trunks saves Vegeta from one of Buu's attacks, Vegeta decides the only way to destroy Buu is to sacrifice himself. Majin Vegeta knocks out Trunks and Goten and uses the Final Explosion (a Self Destruction technique) in an attempt to kill Majin Buu in a nuke-like explosion. At the end all that is left of him is his body turned to stone which falls to the ground and leaves a few broken bits of his stone body, which quickly scatter. This technique fails, as Piccolo, who gave Goten and Trunks to Krillin, watches Majin Buu regenerate from the pieces of him which were left. Everyone finds out about Vegeta's sacrifice, and mourns on the Saiyan Prince's demise. When Bulma and Yamcha wished back everyone who died after the World Tournament, Vegeta did not come back due to the fact that he had already been wished back once before (during the Frieza Saga).

Later on in the series, Vegeta is given the chance of another shot at Majin Buu by King Yemma, which Vegeta accepts. He returns to Earth but unfortunately, he is still dead. He finds Goku (now brought back to life, thanks to one of Supreme Kai's ancestors sacrificing themselves) who tells him that everyone has been killed or absorbed by Majin Buu. Majin Buu was now many times more powerful than when Vegeta first fought him. As a result, Goku asks and pleads to Vegeta to put on one of the Potara Earrings so that they can permanently fuse their bodies and minds together and fight as one. Vegeta denies Goku's offer, and tells him that he knows about Goku again surpassing him, furious that he had found and reached the new Super Saiyan 3 stage, thinking he was mocking him by not using this form during their last confrontation. Vegeta got angry at Goku for holding back in their fight before because Vegeta would not have had to sacrifice his own life if he had known that Goku's true power rivaled that of Majin Buu, and thus he initially rejects the offer. The new Majin Buu, now called Super Buu w/Gohan, then confronted Goku and Vegeta.

Vegito, the result of the Potara Fusion between Goku and Vegeta

In the anime, fighting at Super Saiyan 2, Goku and Vegeta were absolutely no match for him. They were both being completely dominated. As Buu was coming down with a finisher (which never took place in the manga, as the following dialogue is spoken prior to Buu catching up to them), Goku mentions the fact that Bulma has been killed, and Trunks and the remaining Z Fighters have been absorbed. Vegeta decides to go along with the plan. Then when Vegeta agrees to fuse with Goku he explains they would be stuck together forever. Seeing he had no other choices, Vegeta agreed to fuse, even if it means being stuck with Goku forever, because he wants to avenge his family's death and to stop Super Buu. Vegeta then agrees with Goku, and they fuse to become Vegito. Vegito fights Super Buu w/Gohan absorbed. The fused Saiyan, in the normal Super Saiyan form, is far stronger than even the mass-absorbed Super Buu, easily able to beat him even after being turned to coffee-flavored jawbreaker. However, Vegito realizes that he cannot destroy Super Buu because his friends and family have been absorbed into Super Buu's body and allows himself to be purposely absorbed after putting up a barrier so that he may rescue them. The strange circumstances within Super Buu cause the fusion to separate and Goku and Vegeta find themselves back in their own bodies. Vegeta, stating that nothing is worth being fused with Goku forever, crushes the Potaras to powder without hesitation. Goku and Vegeta fight their way through Super Buu's body to the brain (however, in the manga, they appear directly in the brain just as the other absorbees were), where they find not only Gohan, Goten, Trunks and Piccolo but also the original fat form of Majin Buu.

Vegito attacks Buu

Vegeta recalls (having seen these events in the afterlife) that at some time in the past, Majin Buu split into his good and evil sides. The evil side absorbed the good side, Majin Buu. Goku and Vegeta fight a "thought-form" of Super Buu inside the brain, and get badly beaten. Super Buu's power had tremendously been decreased in comparison to when he fought Vegito. However, he was still much stronger than both Goku and Vegeta (the former of whom states that Buu would kill them easily if they were to go out unfused), and to make matters worse, (exclusively in the anime) inside Buu's head the monster's very thoughts became reality. Super Buu was about to destroy Goku when Vegeta distracts him by threatening to tear the fat Majin Buu out of the pod he was trapped inside. Super Buu gets really scared and frightened at what Vegeta is about to do, and begs the Saiyan prince to stop, saying, "If you tear those attachments, I won't be me anymore," which only seemed to increase Vegeta's interest in ripping them. Vegeta then pulls the pod, causing the Super Buu thought-form to dissolve, and he and Goku then escape. They take their sons, and Piccolo with them. Once outside, they see that Super Buu's form is changing again. He morphs back into Kid Buu, his original form before he absorbed Southern Supreme Kai and, the benevolent leader of the Supreme Kais, the Grand Supreme Kai. The new Buu, Kid Buu, was the original, said-to-be pure evil form of Majin Buu. A form that is nothing but pure evil.

"What's wrong, leaving so soon...? You're no warrior, you're just a mindless freak of nature, a big wad of spit out chewing gum! Is this what you want? Well, is it? I don't think so. You're scared, aren't you? Go ahead and run away."
— Vegeta taunting Kid Buu

Kid Buu decides to destroy the earth in his wake with his Planet Burst. Vegeta and Goku have a small conversation afterwards, with Vegeta making fun of Goku because he was so worried but he just shrank. Goku and Vegeta could not stop Kid Buu's horrible power, and the two Saiyans fly quickly to try and reach the now-free absorption victims, but Goku made a detour and picked up Mr. Satan, the young Namekian healer Dende, and Mr. Satan's pet Labrador puppy, Bee. There was no time to save Gohan, Goten, Trunks or Piccolo as Kid Buu's attack was speeding towards them. Suddenly Kibito Kai appears using Instantaneous Movement to transport himself, Goku, Vegeta, and the three others to the Sacred World of the Kais. Vegeta blames Goku for the needless death of their sons. Vegeta also gets further incensed when he learned that, while Vegeta was still dead and in the afterlife, Goku bribed Old Kai with allowing the latter to grope/gain nude pictures of/go on a date with Bulma, lashing out at Goku for his senselessness and stated that he should have just used Goku's own wife instead. They watch through a Crystal Ball and see that Kid Buu is destroying planet after planet in search of them, Kid Buu knew they escaped, and as result decided to hunt them down. Goku and Vegeta decide it can't go on, and power up to entice him to come to the sacred planet to fight them both.

Kid Buu answered their call, and quickly made himself visible at the planet. After playing a quick game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide who faces Kid Buu first, Goku wins and starts his fight. Exclusively in the anime, he powers up to a Super Saiyan 2, and is easily dominated. He then powers up to a Super Saiyan 3, and evenly fights the psychotic demon. However, Kid Buu seems to have a slight advantage over Goku as the fight progresses due to Goku's constantly depleting energy supply. Goku fights in his Super Saiyan 3 stage for a while, and as a result loses a colossal amount of energy. He starts losing so much power he eventually collapses when he tries to fire the powerful Kamehameha attack. Vegeta steps in and fights for a period of time, but is dominated and cannot match Kid Buu in power. Goku recovers in the nick of time and begins fighting again at his full strength. Vegeta goes through a long flashback sequence, remembering how he met Goku and everything that's happened since then - he thinks about their different attitudes to their families, about Goku's friends, and most of all about their strength. He finally comes to terms with his rivalry with Goku and acknowledges him as the best as Goku fights for pure reasons and not for his own personal gain. He calls Goku "Number #1" — it is Goku who will defeat Kid Buu.

Goku gradually began losing power despite being in Super Saiyan 3 form, and since Kid Buu maintained his full strength even after multiple powerful attacks from Goku, the Saiyan warrior began to panic. Vegeta fought Kid Buu in his Super Saiyan 2 form as a distraction so Goku could get his energy back, even though he knew that his destruction would be permanent if he were destroyed while he was dead. The good Majin Buu later took Vegeta's place after being spit out. However, Goku was unable to get his energy back, reverting back into his base form. Vegeta realized that Goku couldn't defeat Kid Buu by using his power alone, and devised a plan for Goku to create a massive Spirit Bomb with energy given by all the people on Earth in order to destroy Kid Buu, which Goku thinks at first will not succeed. Communicating with King Kai, he coordinated the search for the seven Dragon Balls of New Namek and had the Nameks use them to make three wishes: The first being the restoration of the destroyed Planet Earth.

The second wish affirms the sincerity of Vegeta's newfound humanity, as it entails the revival of everyone who had died since the arrival of Babidi who do not possess an evil heart, so that they can give their energy to the Spirit Bomb. When asked by Goku why the wish was worded so, he reasoned that to wish otherwise would revive Dabura and Babidi, and those whom he murdered at the tournament would stay dead. Surely enough, his own halo disappears, indicating that his heart was no longer an evil one. Vegeta tries to convince the people of Earth to give their energy to deafeat Buu, but they do not listen to his pleas. All hope seems lost until Mr. Satan orders the humans to contribute energy, which the humans then do.

This last wish, that of recovering Goku's full strength, was made when Kid Buu was about to overpower the Super Spirit Bomb. Combining Goku's and Vegeta's enormous strength and Vegeta's strategic mind, the last two pure-blood Saiyans were able to defeat Kid Buu and save the universe. The fighters return to Earth and Vegeta goes on to father a second child, his daughter Bulla (Bra in the manga and original anime). After the defeat of Kid Buu, Goku and Vegeta finally become friends after being rivals for many years. They still keep a friendly rivalry between them, though.

Years later, Goku, Vegeta, and the others enter the next World Martial Arts Tournament. In the decade since Kid Buu's defeat, Vegeta has fully accepted life as an Earthling, and has traded in the Saiyan battle fatigues for more casual Earth clothing. Vegeta hopes to fight Goku (again) and Goku hopes to find the reincarnated version of Kid Buu (Uub).

At the end of his fight with Uub, Goku reveals to everybody that he will be leaving for a while to train Uub. Vegeta is the last to talk to Goku before he leaves. Goku apologizes in a way, and tells Vegeta that he does want to have a friendly battle with him one day (to which Vegeta simply replies that "when they fight, they would need a whole planet as an arena"). After Goku and Vegeta say their goodbyes, both Goku and Uub fly away, and Vegeta once again swears to himself that he will fight Goku someday and show him defeat. This is where Dragon Ball Z ends.

In Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta has turned 56. He has become fully accustomed to life on Earth, he got rid of his armor and now wears a jacket. He still has a sour disposition, but appears to have a longer fuse, shaking off most annoyances by rolling his eyes rather than throwing his fists.

Vegeta is now sporting a mustache, and his hair has also become noticeably shorter. However, he shaves the mustache off shortly after his daughter, Bulla, tells him how much she hates it. It was Vegeta's suggestion that Trunks and Goten go with Goku on the search for the Black Star Dragon Balls (Pan ultimately snuck aboard, and Goten was left behind).

In this saga, an artificially-created Tuffle came to Earth. These people were the race that used to live on the Saiyan's homeworld before being wiped out by the stronger race. He possessed people, including Gohan and Goten, to find Vegeta. Vegeta fought both Goten and Gohan, and beat them, but Baby entered Vegeta's body through a cut and proceeded to control him. Although Vegeta resisted him much longer than anyone else, he was eventually taken over.

Baby Vegeta spread his control, taking over the minds of everyone on Earth using special seeds, save those with special protection (i.e. Majin Buu's ability to control his body in any way he wishes protected him from the seeds). After creating a new Tuffle homeworld with the Black Star Dragon Balls, he began moving the people of Earth there bit by bit, proclaiming himself ruler. After a battle with Goku, who managed to reach Super Saiyan 4, Baby Vegeta transformed to a Golden Great Ape form. The two battled and Goku eventually won by blasting off Baby Vegeta's tail. Baby fled Vegeta's body and was blasted into the Sun by Goku.

During the 30th World Martial Arts Tournament, Vegeta tries to compete, even though the tournament has already started. After the closing of the tournament, Vegeta challenges Goku to another fight, but it never happens due to Goku becoming hungry.

Soon after a rip between Hell and Earth is formed and many dead villains return. Vegeta easily kills Nappa again, and then battles against a newer version of Android #17, easily dominating him in base form. After Goku gets trapped in Hell and is forced to fight Frieza and Super Perfect Cell, Vegeta claims that he is the Earth's protector in the case of Goku's absence and is determined to win the battle against Super 17 (the fusion of Android 17 and his clone from Hell). He uses his Final Shine Attack in an attempt to vanquish the artificial being, however this proves futile, as Super 17 simply absorbs the attack, noting how sad it seemed. With Goku's arrival, Vegeta decides to take care of Trunks, and tells him to rest, as he senses that Goku and Android 18 have finally delivered the final blow to Super 17.

As Goku continues to have trouble against the One Star Dragon, Omega Shenron, Vegeta comes to his aid. Transforming into a Golden Great Ape, due to the Blutz Wave Generator (a device invented by Bulma), Vegeta proceeded to become a Super Saiyan 4 after gaining control over the Great Ape form. When even this form failed to stop the Shadow Dragon, Goku and Vegeta fused to become Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta. (Ironically, Vegeta was the one who suggested fusion this time.)

Gogeta overwhelmed Omega Shenron in power almost bringing the heroes to victory, but the fusion time ran out before they could deliver the final blow. Vegeta then suggests that all his family and friends take Bulma's space ship and leave the planet while he tries to stop Omega. However, Trunks, Gohan and Goten return to help Vegeta, but all four of them were incapable of defeating Omega, until Goku surprises everyone by powering up the Universal Spirit Bomb.

Eventually, thanks to the people of the Earth and universe, Goku gains a big enough Spirit Bomb to completely destroy Omega Shenron. Before leaving for 100 years, Goku tells Vegeta that the lives of everyone are now in his hands, passing the role of protector of the Earth and anyone in need of help, to Vegeta. When Pan finds Goku's gi on the ground, Vegeta confirms that they are indeed Goku's clothes and tells her to treasure them dearly.

In this movie Vegeta is still a child (but has incredible power for his age) and is fighting a few saibamen. When he is finished with killing them he orders his guard to open the door of the room were he was training in. He tells Nappa that some day he will kill Frieza. When he visits Frieza he tells brutally that he wants another assigment but Zarbon and Dodoria refuses until Frieza gives it to him after all. But he gives him the hardest one and tells him to come back alive. At the end of the movie Vegeta finds out that his home planet is destroyed by a huge meteor (although it was really Frieza who was responsible for this deed) and he is the, for now known, only survivor of the royal family.

Future Vegeta finds out about Goku's death and strangely enough he's sad (Since he and Goku didn't become friends until much later, this was probably because he will never get another chance to fight him ever again). The last time we see him again in this movie is when he is destroyed by Android 17.

Vegeta appears mid-way through The Return of Cooler, where he knocks Meta-Cooler off of Goku. Even with the two working together, however, they prove little match for Meta-Cooler. Using everything they have, Goku and Vegeta successfully destroy Meta-Cooler, only for the Big Gete Star to correct all flaws to the Meta-Cooler's body by producing one thousand Meta-Coolers, who overwhelm Goku and Vegeta and drag them to the Big Gete Star.

The real Cooler hooks up Goku and Vegeta to machines and begins to drain all of their Ki to power the Big Gete Star and destroy New Namek. However, Goku and Vegeta take advantage of this and flood the systems with so much energy that they overload.

Goku attempts to finish off Cooler once and for all, but is quickly strangled by wires. When all seems lost, Vegeta fires an energy blast that shears off Cooler's arm and frees Goku, passing out after stating, "And that's the last time you'll underestimate a Saiyan."

Goku destroys Cooler, but, after being healed by Senzu Beans, Vegeta departs in a Saiyan Pod. Holding the original chip of the Big Gete Star in his hand, Vegeta promptly crushes it to ensure that Cooler will never return.

"Let me make one thing clear. I didn't do this out of the goodness of my heart. I did this because I want you alive. So I can have my shot at destroying you, and no worthless piece of junkyard trash is going to take that chance away from me."
— Vegeta to Goku

When Android 13 fires a S.S. Deadly Bomber, Vegeta steps in and blows the S.S. Deadly Bomber away. Goku starts fighting Android 13 again and now Vegeta takes Android 15 and Trunks takes Android 14, Goku, Vegeta and Trunks are getting beaten but then they go Super Saiyan and Vegeta and Trunks destroy their respective Androids. Now Goku was Super Saiyan but that only made him equal with Android 13. Then Gohan and Krillin who already had arrived on the scene a little while ago, attack Android 13 with a Masenko but this didn't hurt Android 13 and he throws a blast at Gohan but his blast is deflected by Piccolo.

Piccolo then goes to help Goku battle Android 13, along with Vegeta and Trunks, and Android 13 knows he doesn't stand a change against these warriors. Thus, Android 13 absorbs some parts of Android 14 and Android 15 and then Android 13 starts to transform into a big blue being with red hair, becoming Super Android 13.

Nobody stands a change against Super Android 13 and are all beaten, when Goku is kicked into the water he starts to make a Spirit Bomb. When Super Android 13 noticed this he tries to make a S.S. Deadly Bomber to blow the Spirit Bomb away, but he fails because everybody is attacking him, Piccolo even lifted him up so he missed. Now Goku has all the power but its still not enough and he goes Super Saiyan, and by doing this Goku absorbs the Spirit Bomb into himself and destroys 13.

The final scene of the movie depicts Piccolo and Vegeta sitting back to back on an ice block in isolation.

While at a picnic, Vegeta is approached by Paragus, one of the few remaining Saiyans, who wants to recreate the Saiyan empire and stop the rampaging Legendary Super Saiyan and leads him to a new Planet Vegeta, while Krillin, Future Trunks, Gohan, Master Roshi, and Oolong tag along.

After searching for the Saiyan, Vegeta encounters Goku, who had also arrived on the planet in search of the Super Saiyan. Vegeta vehemently declares that he will defeat the Saiyan, and orders Goku to stay out of his way.

The next morning, Goku reveals to Vegeta that Broly is the Saiyan that they have been searching for, which Paragus initially tries to deny, but ultimately admits the deception after a cumulation of Future Trunks revealing to Vegeta that he used slaves to try and build the so-called New Vegeta, the city was nothing more than ruins, Broly being responsible for the partial destruction of the slaves' homeworld Shamoa, and Broly going berserk. Broly powers up fully and attacks at full force, and Vegeta is paralyzed with fear throughout most of the fight. However, when he is insulted by the newly-arrived Piccolo, Vegeta comes around, only to be defeated quickly by Broly. When Goku is the last one standing, Piccolo, Gohan, and Trunks all transfer their power to Goku, but Vegeta initially refuses due to his pride. However, as Goku ends up on the losing end of the fight, Vegeta relents and transfers his power to Goku, which allows him to punch through Broly's stomach and apparently kill him. They all then escape just as Comet Camori hits.

Vegeta is the one who deduces that a Tuffle remnant is responsible for the Destron Gas attack on Earth, by way of their technology. He, Goku, Piccolo, Future Trunks, and Gohan all attempt to stop the machines releasing the gas and briefly battle ghost versions of Frieza, Cooler, Turles, and Lord Slug. Vegeta and the others ultimately destroy the ghost warrior responsible, Dr. Raichi, with Vegeta using his devastating Final Flash. The Z-Warriors are then confronted by Hatchiyack, Raichi's ultimate creation. After they take a brutal beating, Goku discovers his weakness and all five fire their special attacks in unison when Hatchiyak is charging his attack, destroying the Tuffle plan once and for all. After the defeat of Hatchiyak, the Z Fighters realize that the planet they are on is about to be destroyed. Due to this, Goku uses Instant Transmission to get everyone back to earth safely.

Because of Goku's death, Vegeta was unwilling to fight anymore due to the fact that he is most likely deprived of any chance of defeating Goku. This also resulted in him not going to the Intergalactic World Tournament. However, when he notices that Future Trunks might be in danger from Bojack, he goes over to help, taking Trunks' sword with him. Vegeta is one of the characters who fights Bojack and the Galaxy Soldiers, but is defeated. After Gohan defeats Bojack, Vegeta and Piccolo are once again seen together in isolation.

Vegeta appears to save Goku when he is at the mercy of Janemba. Though Vegeta was sent to Hell and stripped of his body when he died, the instabilities caused by Janemba also restored Vegeta's body, like all the other residents of Hell. Vegeta fights Janemba in his SSJ2 form, but is no match for him, being knocked out of the form when the demon delivers a powerful choke. Goku saves Vegeta from Janemba's rampage and hides in a ball of spikes. Vegeta states that he doesn't care if Janemba destroys him, as he despises "life" in Hell and states that even non-existence is better. However, when both himself and Goku are quickly swiped aside, they take shelter, and Goku proposes using Fusion to defeat Janemba. Vegeta refuses, but ultimately relents. However, it fails when Vegeta fails to extend his index finger at the last second, producing a very fat and weak fighter dubbed Veku, who is easily thrown around by Janemba.

Veku manages to avoid Janemba long enough for the Fusion to wear off, and they successfully perform it again, forming Gogeta and defeating Janemba. After the Fusion wears off, Goku and Vegeta bid each other a friendly farewell before Vegeta is once again stripped of his body and sent back to Hell.

After a brief fight in which he is defeated, Vegeta is thrown into a nearby building but is knocked out after he saves the people in the building from Hirudegarn's flame attack by using all his powers to create a barrier strong enough to withstand the attack. He is later shown at the end of the movie sitting on a rock whilst the Z Fighters bid farewell to Tapion.

This special takes place 2 years after the end of the Kid Buu Saga. Two remnants of Frieza's planet trade organization, Abo and Kado have pursued Vegeta's younger brother Tarble and his wife Gure to Earth. Tarble comes to Earth with Gure to find his brother and ask him for help to fight against them because they've have been terrorizing the planet Tarble has settled on(proving to be too powerful for Tarble) and have also followed Tarble to Earth. Vegeta appears to be apathetic to Tarble's arrival. He also has a low opinion of him due to his exile from Planet Vegeta for being a weak and unaggressive fighter and the fact Tarble couldn't handle it on his own. He is however respectful (though surprised) by Tarble's wife and even returns her bow in kind.

Nontheless, Vegeta is fine with helping his brother out and actually wants to handle Abo and Kado by himself. In the end though, all the Z Fighters want to be involved (to Vegeta's annoyance)and through a contest of seeing who can pull the biggest radish, Trunks wins and is the one to face the incoming villains, though Vegeta is content with his son being the one and encourages him to avenge uncle Tarble. Goten also joins in due to Goku's playful encouraging. Trunks and Goten initially have the upperhand until Abo and Kado use a Cloning technique and tip the odds. Vegeta comments on Trunks forgetting basics which Bulma claims is because he doesn't teach them to Trunks, which leads to Vegeta claiming he lacks motivation and the trait comes from Bulma's side of the family, leading to a short argument that is ended by Goku (joking about the marital quarrel). After Gohan's coaching assistance returns the favor to Goten and Trunks, Abo and Kado use Fusion to become Aka and once again gain the upperhand, leading to Goten and Trunks using Fusion to become Gotenks. Gotenks seems to have regained the advantage until Aka starts using his "Super Wahaha no Ha and wrecking the surrounding area. While Gotenks and the rest of the Z Fighters defend their weaker friends from the blasts and falling debris of Mr. Satan's hotel, Vegeta and Goku go in to stop Aka. Vegeta however is tricked by Goku who points off in another direction to distract Vegeta while Goku proceeds to finish Aka off himself (which Vegeta comments on afterwards by saying that wasn't fair). Afterwards Abo and Kado separate and are shown getting along with everyone, having changed their ways. The final scene shows Vegeta and Goku at the dinner table arguing over food whilst their wives (Bulma and Chi-Chi) look on in embarassment.

During a game of soccer in which Neko Majin Z and his unnamed friend played against Kuriza and Onio, Onio kicks the ball to Kuriza who performs a backflip kick and sends the ball hurling into the sky. Z proclaims that he can do better and leaps into the air to perform the same type of kick on "the falling ball". Instead of hitting the ball, the Neko Majin hits the space pod that belongs to Vegeta, who had been sent to look for Kuriza and Onio by Frieza's orders. Onio says that they are on the planet because there is one outrageously strong guy, Neko Majin Z. Vegeta begins to fight Neko Majin Z but loses and goes Super Saiyan. Onio says that he also went Super Saiyan but it was no use against Neko Majin Z, who transformed into a Super Neko Majin. Then, Vegeta pretends he has a phone call and leaves, claiming that "he will never appear in a gag manga ever again."

As a member of the Saiyan race, Vegeta possesses a large number of transformations that enhance his abilities to varying degrees and drastically alter his physical appearance. These forms are listed in the order they were attained.

This is Vegeta's least used transformation. He was only seen within this form twice in the series. The first time Vegeta transformed into this huge ape like monster, he used a Power Ball resembling similar effects of the moon. The second time when he transformed, was in GT when Bulma used the Blutz Wave Generator that she created for him, because he was missing his tail. His size is paramount, his ears are keen enough to hear a pin drop from a mile away. His eyes are big and red. He has sharp teeth, and a large "U" shaped mouth. Unlike Goku and Gohan, Vegeta retains his rationality when transformed (It is never shown how he obtained this ability, but it is assumed it is due to his training, or because of the fact that he is of the royal bloodline) . He is much more powerful than his normal form when transformed, and easily crushed Goku, who exclaimed that not even a Kaio-ken x 5 would work on him. Vegeta claimed that the power of the Great Ape form is ten times that of the Saiyan's base form. If this math can be applied to the power levels reported by scouters, his power level in this form would be around 180,000, which is the same as Goku's when he fought the Ginyu Force on Namek. However, it is to be noted that Vegeta took a fair dip in power after losing the beam struggle against Goku who used the four-fold Kaio-ken, and then took another drop when generating the "Power Ball" necessary to induce his transformation, as stated by Goku; this should place his power used in the form at around the low 100 thousands mark, if not the high 10s of thousands.

This is Vegeta's Super Saiyan form. Though it was only a Saiyan Legend, Vegeta was fascinated with this transformation and obsessed over obtaining it so that he could avenge his race by having the power to defeat Frieza. Goku achieved the state prior to Vegeta however as did Future Trunks (Though chronologically, Vegeta actually achieved it first, as Future Trunks achieved the form long after Vegeta had been killed and in the special when Gohan was. Furthermore, in the manga version of The History of Trunks, Vegeta was clearly seen as a Super Saiyan in 1 panel, proving that he had managed to attain the transformation some time after Goku's death.) which only fueled his desire to unlock the potential hidden within him. Vegeta first showed off the Super Saiyan state while he was fighting Android 19, ripping off the Android's arms and thereby rendering it unable to keep absorbing his energy, after which he reduced it to a lifeless head with the Big Bang Attack.

In this form, his power greatly increases from his regular level. His hair turns blond, the irises of his eyes become green, and he acquires a golden aura just as Goku had done before him. He gains a slight muscle increase as well. Vegeta mastered this level when he was training to surpass Goku, during the seven year period of peace between the Cell and Buu arcs, thus resulting in becoming much more powerful than when he first became a Super Saiyan or when he ascended to Super Saiyan 2nd Grade, able to remain in the transformation for multiple days without the normal exhaustion overcoming him. This is shown when he maintains the form auralessly as though it were his natural state during both his training with Trunks in the gravity chamber, and before his fight with Goku against Kid Buu. After reverting back to base form to calmly watch the battle that ensued between Super Saiyan 3 Goku and Kid Buu, Vegeta displayed the ability to immediately transform to Super Saiyan 2 without accessing this stage first to distract Buu while Goku regathers his power (previously, this had only been done by Goku at the time, although both he and Gotenks displayed the ability to instantly transform two or more levels when both ascended straight to Super Saiyan 3 from the first Super Saiyan form). He used this form to battle Baby Gohan and Baby Goten. He also used this form to battle Super 17 and Omega Shenron, but is badly beaten both times and nearly killed by Omega Shenron's Dragon Thunder technique.

This form wields much greater power than his Super Saiyan level. At this level, Vegeta personally calls himself "Super Vegeta." He has the same basic golden features of his Super Saiyan level, only now his muscles are much larger. His hair also is bigger and slightly sharper, and he looks and acts more dominant. Due to Vegeta's muscle mass increase, he is much stronger than in his Super Saiyan form, and his speed and agility are unencumbered, unlike the 3rd Stage Ascended Saiyan, which significantly decreases speed (but greatly increases in strength). Vegeta went through this transformation when he was training to fight Cell in his Semi-Perfect form and he fought, as well as Cell in his Perfect form (where he is outmatched, and knocked out with his face to the ground after a hard hit to the spine, reverting him to base form). It is suggested by Tien that this form had a power equal to Perfect Cell's, and by Piccolo that Vegeta only lost against Cell because he fought sloppily as when Vegeta used the Final Flash attack, he destroyed a large portion of his body, but he had to redirect the majority of the power of his blast upwards to avoid destroying the planet, and it assumed that Cell escaped the brunt of the attack. Had Cell taken the brunt, he might have actually been destroyed. However it was soon realized that Cell was really holding back. #16 also notes that although Cell had grown much stronger after absorbing Android 18, he was still ahead in every way, though Vegeta is able tell that Cell was holding back his power, and this is proven when Cell doesn't use anything close to his full power to defeat Vegeta with ease.

This is Vegeta's strongest form in Dragon Ball Z. This form turns as strong as Majin Vegeta when he returns to Earth by King Yemma. It is sometimes debated when he first achieved this form. In the manga, there are quite a few hints he achieved it before he became Majin Vegeta, with practically none to the contrary, as Vegeta only states Goku to be stronger than Gohan once he, too transforms into Super Saiyan 2, holding complete confidence in his superiority over Gohan prior to becoming Majin Vegeta, and transforms into this state on his own free will from the normal Super Saiyan, long after he became Majin Vegeta.

Vegeta first uses this form when he fights against Goku while as Majin Vegeta. He also uses this form when fighting Super Buu before the Vegito fusion, albeit only in the anime. He also fights Kid Buu so Goku can gather enough energy in his Super Saiyan 3 form to defeat Kid Buu, during which he is easily beaten and reverted back to base as Goku fails to charge up his full power due to energy depletion. It was also used in the movies Fusion Reborn and the final movie, dubbed "Wrath of the Dragon," and in both instances he is again reverted back to base form, against Hirudegarn knocked down in particular after defending a group of people inside a building that he was thrown into. Strangely enough, in all three of those instances, including when fighting Kid Buu, lightning is removed from his transformation despite the bolts constantly surrounding his body in the original manga, causing some confusion over whether he actually used this form in the anime or not, as the bolts only appear for about a few seconds when he fires a barrage of ki blasts to stall for time, possibly due to budget issues (even Super Saiyan 3 Goku has no lightning for this particular scene). He used this form to battle Baby Gohan and Baby Goten. He also used this form to battle Super 17 and Omega Shenron, but is badly beaten both times and nearly killed by Omega Shenron's Dragon Thunder technique.

Both the Daizenshuu and the new Super Exciting Guide character profiles state that Vegeta was awakened to his Super Saiyan 2 form by means of extensive training in between the Cell and Buu arcs, which assures that Vegeta did indeed achieve this transformation through training. When Vegeta transforms to a Super Saiyan 2 he receives some noticeable changes, such as his hair growing a little bit longer, spiker and becoming more defined than his other previous Super Saiyan forms. He also gains electricity in his aura surrounding his body in this form.

Vegeta is seen fighting as a Super Saiyan 3 in the trailer for Dragon Battlers. In this trailer, Goku is seen being beaten by Super Saiyan 3 Broly. Just as Broly is about to deliver the final blow, he is seen struck by an energy blast. The blast is then revealed to have come from Vegeta who is in his newly attained Super Saiyan 3 form. Goku then gets up and transforms into his SS3 form and joins Vegeta, as the two of them power up in preparation to face Broly.

In Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, Vegeta fights in this form as part of a What-if scenario called The Strongest Super Saiyan 3. In this scenario, Vegeta is shown to have finally attained Super Saiyan 3 and, upon reaching the form, challenges every other Saiyan who has managed to reach the form as well. He then faces and defeats all other Super Saiyan 3s (Gotenks, Broly, and Goku), proving that he is indeed "The Strongest Super Saiyan 3". While in his Super Saiyan 3 transformation, Vegeta reveals a more powerful version of the Galick Gun techique, which, instead of being purple like the original, is somewhat reddish in color.

After Goku tries to destroy Omega Shenron by self-destruction, Vegeta comes to his aid and tells him that he has a plan to reach Super Saiyan 4. Bulma shoots at Vegeta the same blutz waves as she used against Baby, which allows Vegeta to grow his tail back and become a Great Ape and later a Golden Great Ape. After Vegeta becomes fully conscious of himself, he transforms into a Super Saiyan 4.

Bulma used the blutz wave amplifier as a substitute for the moon and used it on Vegeta. These waves ran through Vegeta's veins, forcing his tail to grow back, which is necessary for a Saiyan to transform into a Great Ape. With his tail back, like Goku, he was able to transform into a Great Ape. His enormous power allowed him to then transform into a Golden Great Ape, and then, upon gaining control of himself, he transformed into a Super Saiyan 4 (skipping Super Saiyan 3). Vegeta's features are quite different from his previous forms. His hair style changes, becoming longer and more wild. His hair becomes dark brown, and extends to his shoulders, his eyes are aqua-colored, and he has red fur on the upper part of his body.

Majin Vegeta is the form Vegeta became when he became a follower of Babidi and gains a significant boost in his power from his influence. While having the Majin seal on his forehead, Vegeta's true dark nature is reawakened (hence, the Japanese Perfect File books refer to this state as "Demon Prince Vegeta"), and in turn became more powerful than he was before. Majin Vegeta usually fights at the level of Super Saiyan 2 and his power equals that of Goku at his Super Saiyan 2 level, and later to that of himself when he fights Super Buu w/Gohan absorbed and Kid Buu. After Vegeta is killed by his devastating Final Explosion as a last resort to destroy Majin Buu, this form is never seen again in either the manga or anime.

The form later reappears in Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road, as Future Babidi again uses his magic to try and brainwash Vegeta. However, unlike the last time Vegeta transformed into Majin Vegeta, this time, it was completely against Vegeta's will. He also appears in the previous game Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai in a similar manner, in that Vegeta does battle with Majin Vegeta (in reality Janemba in disguise), but Majin Vegeta/Janemba then possesses him, despite Vegeta's best efforts to prevent it.

Like Majin Vegeta, this is a form outside the normal Saiyan transformations. This was achieved when Vegeta was cut and then infected with the Baby alien. Vegeta was able to resist the takeover longer then anyone else but eventually Baby took control. Baby seems to have fused with Vegeta more completely than any of his other hosts, none of which were transformed. In the early stage, Vegeta's hair turns gray in favor of the golden color of Super Saiyan, and red marks appear on his face. There is also a massive power augmentation. In this form, Baby is completely unfazed by a full force punch to the face from a Super Saiyan 3 Goku, even before being altered to augument his strength. This form is transformed when Baby absorbs the negative energy from the infected people of Earth, briefly taking the form of Super Baby Vegeta, before finally becoming the more familiar Super Baby Vegeta 2. Later, when being completely overwhelmed by the power of Super Saiyan 4 Goku, Baby transforms yet again, this time becoming a Golden Great Ape, a transformation which has previously allowed Goku to surpass Super Baby's power. Due to Baby-possessed Bulma's application of wave surges called "Blutz Waves Generator" ("Bruits Waves" in the original version), Baby was transformed into a Golden Great Ape in order to compete with Super Saiyan 4 Goku. In this state, Baby Vegeta is able to compete with the powerful Saiyan foe. After his tail is severed, Baby Vegeta reverts to Vegeta's normal state and Baby leaves Vegeta's body.

The Potarafusion between Vegeta and Goku. He was created as a desperate plan by Old Kai to stop the powerful Super Buu. Goku's relaxation, and Vegeta's strategic mind enabled Vegito to be quite an intelligent fighter without being overcome by arrogance as Vegeta alone would be but possessing the ruthlessness to kill Super Buu that Goku would lack. In addition, Vegito also possesses the enormous power and speed of both Goku and Vegeta, as well as the tactics and skill of both. He is very similar to Gogeta, who is another fusion of Goku and Vegeta.

The Fusion Dance of Goku and Vegeta, Gogeta is considered to be one of the most formidable characters introduced in the series. Like Vegito, Gogeta was an act of desperation, though this one was to stop the powerful demon, Janemba, rather than Majin Buu. Gogeta easily outclassed Janemba, and the demon was quickly disposed of in a heart beat.

Vegeta contributed his Saiyan smarts, and his power. It was a Metamoresean warrior who first taught Goku the technique. As a Super Saiyan 4, Gogeta is the strongest known being in the Dragon Ball universe. However, due to his extraordinary power, the fusion will only last for ten minutes, (as opposed to the typical half hour), though this has been proven ample time to defeat any foe many times over. He is very similar to Vegito, who is another fusion of Goku and Vegeta.

If counting his appearance as a Super Saiyan 3 in video games, Vegeta has ascended to every Super Saiyan level, with the exception of Ultra Super Saiyan. It is hinted that he knew how, but that he refused to transform due to the form's disadvantage. However, the Daizenshuu does not state Vegeta as a user of the Ultra Super Saiyan form.

Vegeta saves Goku's life many times, mostly in the movies (although Goku has also saved Vegeta's life a few times). Vegeta always notes that he should be the only one to "have the pleasure of killing Kakarot."

Vegeta is the only one in the manga canon to have conscious control over his Great Ape form (Raditz and Nappa were never shown as Great Apes, so it is unknown whether they had control as well).

Ironically, the first time Vegeta openly shows his love of Trunks and Bulma occurs when he is in Majin Form, which traditionally brings out the evil in people.

Despite the fact that Saiyan tails regenerate back, such as Goku's and Gohan's did, after Vegeta's tail gets cut off by Yajirobe, Vegeta's tail never comes back.

Vegeta is insusceptible to the pain a typical Saiyan experiences when having their tail mistreated, as he declares to the horror of Piccolo, Krillin and Gohan in the episode "Time's Up!!". However, the manga and Japanese anime implies that he and Nappa managed to train their tails while Raditz neglected to do so with his, which is further supported by Goku getting over the weakness prior to the 22nd World Tournament in the original Dragon Ball.

In the episode "Elite Fighters of the Universe... The Ginyu Force", during Guldo's flashback to a confrontation with Vegeta, Vegeta is shown without a tail, even though this scene took place before he went to Earth. Additionally, he's wearing the version of the armor he didn't start wearing until the Namek Saga (the one he wore on Earth and prior had flaps below the waist). This is likely an artwork error in the same vein as Goku once being seen in the manga with the symbol of the Turtle School in the Cell arc, where he removes all symbols on his gi and makes slight changes.

Despite Vegeta's obsession with defeating Goku, Goku has never actually beaten him. However, Vegeta's wounded pride over the fact that Goku surpassed him with the three-fold Kaio-Ken and continued to later is likely the main reason for his desire to beat him, which continues to the end of the series (although in a more friendly manner).

During Vegeta and Nappa's earliest appearance in the Dragon Ball Z anime, Vegeta's armor is orange and green, as opposed to yellow and white respectively, and his hair is brown. He retains this appearance on planet Arlia as well, though this was corrected on Dragon Ball Kai except when Raditz explains to Goku about Saiyans selling planets to aliens, Vegeta still appears with the wrong colors. His traditional coloring was standardized following his and Nappa's arrival on Earth during the Vegeta Saga. Vegeta's original palette is used as an alternate color in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3.

Vegeta would technically be the "King" of all Saiyans, but, likely out of respect for his father, he does not refer himself as such.

Vegeta has an extreme fear and disgust of squirmy things, as seen in Mind Trap, when he and Goku are trapped in Buu's stomach. However, this was anime filler.

Vegeta is one of four main characters in the series who blows himself up, the other three being Chiaotzu, Semi-Perfect Cell and Super Buu. Ironically, all but Semi-Perfect Cell failed to ever kill any of their targets (in a sense, though, Cell still failed to blow up the Earth, as well as Gohan).

It is also notable that before Vegeta sacrifices himself, he asks Piccolo if he will see Goku in the Other World. This being curious as Vegeta already was killed by Frieza and wished back. Although he likely did not keep his body (for if he did, he would have been revived in the netherworld like Goku was in the Saiyan Saga), he would have had some preconception of what death was like.

Vegeta almost always addresses Goku by his Saiyan birth name, Kakarot, but has on rare occasion addressed him as Goku. Vegeta says Goku's name eight times, only two of which stating that Kakarot is Goku.The first two were before he realized that Goku was Kakarot, during his battle on Earth, and the third is when he said Goku must be Kakarot. The fourth was when he was healing in the Rejuvenation Tank during the Namek Saga.The fifth and sixth was during the Garlic Jr. Saga, when he is searching for Goku, he referred to him as Goku when speaking to the Frieza soldiers twice, perhaps figuring that if Goku had come across them and introduced himself, he would've used his Earth name (though this is not to be so easily dismissed as non-canon, the moment after Garlic Jr. is sucked into the Dead Zone, Vegeta calls him Kakarot again).The seventh time was in "Welcome Back Goku" when Vegeta says to Trunks "Kakarot, the one you call Goku, and I are the only Saiyans left." The eighth time was during the Super 17 Saga, when he was incapacitated by Super 17, Dr. Myuu boasted that no one could stop them with Goku trapped in Hell; Vegeta immediately regained consciousness and shouted, "Did you say Goku?!" Additionally, in the original manga, Vegeta once refers to Goku as (Son) Goku after being shown his full power during the opening match of the Cell Games (after Satan lost his) when remarking at the extent of his true power, and Vegeta refers to him as Goku aloud when he asks for Dende to wish that his power be restored to full strength. The first of these instances is simply shortened to "So that's his true power..." in the Viz manga.

In episode 86 of the uncut episodes while Vegeta is receiving a merciless beating from Frieza, there is a minor inconsistency at the 4:51 mark. Vegeta's Saiyan armor is shown to be in perfect condition, when in fact a hole had been blown through it due to Krillin's earlier energy beam attack designed to damage Vegeta to within an inch of his life so that Vegeta may be healed by Dende and become a Super Saiyan (which he initially believed he did, until proven wrong by being easily beaten to a pulp by Frieza in his true form). However, at 5:08 when his backside is shown again, the armor is completely destroyed.

In the FUNimation dub, Vegeta gave Semi-Perfect Cell almost the exact same speech as Android #19 right before he killed him. In addition, he says "Do you realize how fruitless this is? I've been allowing you to deceive yourself." This is similar to what Goku says after defeating Burter ("You've been deceiving yourselves. This fight is fruitless.").

From the beginning of Dragon Ball Z to the end, Vegeta loses more and more body armor. In the Saiyan Saga, he had a armor from upper body to crotch guards. In the Frieza Saga, he had less armor, losing the crotch guards and eventually shoulder pads. In the Cell Saga, he had even less armor, with just a chest plate. In the Buu Saga, he had no Saiyan armor, simply white gloves, boots, and a blue jumpsuit (although all of Saiyan origin). In GT, he fully abandons his Saiyan armor for casual clothing.

Vegeta is the only pure-blooded Saiyan whose offsprings do not inherit the traditional spiky black hair and eyes, instead seeming to take his mother's hairline (this is made more apparent in the manga, where both Bulma and Trunks have purple hair). Vegeta is also the only Super Saiyan whose hair does not stand any more upright than it already does in his base form.

Vegeta has been the strongest character in the series four times: when he first came to Earth (before Goku powered up to Kaio-Ken x3), when he turned Super Saiyan to fight Android 19, when he emerged from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber as an Ascended Super Saiyan (though it was unknown to him, that Trunks had surpassed him in power with the Ultra Super Saiyan stage, but Trunks himself was unaware that Vegeta merely chose not to take the form knowing the severe speed decrease it would cause), and when possessed by Baby (but only until Goku's Super Saiyan 4 transformation).

On October 8th, 2009, Vegeta was shown in the Super Saiyan 3 form in Dragon Ball: Raging Blast as the second exclusive character, along with Broly's version.

On the Portuguese and Spanish Dub, Vegeta never called Goku by his Saiyan birth name, thus Goku's Saiyan birth name was never revealed in the Portuguese and Spanish Dub of the anime. Interestingly, in the Portuguese Dub of Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta calls Goku by "Cachalote", which is the Portuguese word for Sperm Whale (even though that if pronounced correctly, it actually resembles the English pronunciation for "Kakarot").

During The Shadow Dragon Saga, Vegeta states that the gap between his and Goku's power had become so large that he had no chance of catching up which set up a chain of flashbacks from the Vegeta Saga, Frieza Saga and the Trunks Saga. As well as the Babidi/ Majin Buu Saga and lastly the Kid Buu Saga this was the cause of Vegeta coming up with the idea to become a Super Saiyan 4.

During a flashback in the Frieza Saga, it is shown that Vegeta as a child was on Frieza's ship when Planet Vegeta exploded. Yet in the special Bardock - The Father of Goku, it is shown that he is on another planet. This is also helped by when Raditz states to Goku that he, Nappa, and Vegeta were on other planets at the time of the destruction of Planet Vegeta.

It seems as if every time after the Frieza Saga when Vegeta receives heavy damage, his left arm takes the brunt of the impact.

Vegeta tends to refer to himself in third-person while under a Super Saiyan transformation. For example: before starting a battle in Raging Blast and 2 as Super Saiyan 3, he says "Watch out! Because Vegeta is a Super Saiyan 3 now!" and in the anime, when he first appeared as a Super Saiyan, he referred to himself as "Super Vegeta". He says the same thing when he Ascends in Raging Blast and Raging Blast 2.

It seems that Vegeta's favorite food are egg rolls and tuna sushi. As seen in DBZ episode "Big Trouble, Little Trunks", where Vegeta ordered some egg rolls, and getting angry at Goku for eating his sushi and telling him that he is saving the sushi to eat last on the OVA Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! (along with an egg-roll on the same plate).